With its
magical buildings, fascinating landscapes and friendly people, Uzbekistan has a
lot to offer. It is a country caught between rich traditions and modernity.
Wild
equestrian games, fairytale palaces and hospitable people proud of their
magnificent culture - all this will be encountered by those traveling through
Uzbekistan on the Silk Road. The central Asian country borders Kazakhstan to
the north and Afghanistan to the south. The journey begins in Samarkand, one of
central Asia’s oldest cities.
For centuries
cities like Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva provided the necessary infrastructure
for the caravans on the Silk Road, allowing merchants to trade their goods and
providing accommodation for them and their animals. Many buildings still
survive to underline the splendor and wealth that trade once generated. In
Samarkand, one of the world’s oldest cities, three outstanding Koran schools,
known as madrasas, on Registan Square have been listed as a UNESCO World
Heritage Site. In the Boysun region in the Hissar Mountains the ancient, and
none-too-gentle riding game known as Kopkari is held at Nowruz, the New Year
festival. More than a hundred horsemen try to pick up the body of a dead goat
from the ground and to escape with this from all the others. In 1380 the Uzbek
folk hero Amir Timur (Tamerlane) had the gigantic Ak Sarav, the White Palace,
built in Shahrisabz, the town of his birth. It had a thousand rooms adorned
with gemstones.
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